Make the Most of Your Vacation

It can be hard to get away from the office. Here are some simple tips for making the most of whatever vacation time you take.

You’ve worked hard for your vacation and you want to make the most of it. Try these strategies and Bon Voyage!

The three-day vacation is a growing market, according to Nora Spinks, president of Work-Life Harmony Enterprises in Toronto. Her tip for making the most of it? Take Monday, not Friday. It’s harder to leave the office on the day when the week’s work culminates, she explains. You can’t slip out unnoticed after a few hours, and those left behind may simmer with resentment. On Monday, "it’s lunchtime before anyone notices you’re not there," she says.

If you’re going to be back in the office on, say, the 11th, put the 12th in your "out of office" email message. That gives you a full day to catch up.

If you must phone in to the office while on vacation, do it just once a day at a pre-determined time.